Claudia Rankine and Meghan Daum lead 2015 PEN Literary Awards

Claudia Rankine and Meghan Daum are two of the winners of the 2015 PEN Center USA Literary Awards, announced Thursday morning. Based in Los Angeles, PEN Center USA annually honors poetry, nonfiction, fiction, screenwriting and journalism by writers from the West, while also celebrating the work of creative writers who foster free speech.

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola will receive the lifetime achievement award. Coppola is an Oscar-winning screenwriter, director and producer whose films include “The Godfather” saga and “Apocalypse Now.” He also is the founder of the online writers community Zoetrope: All-Story, in existence for 18 years.